by Roman Bystrianyk
If you watched any of the speeches presented in association with the 1,000-plus-page Medicare law passed by Congress late last year they were more like scenes from a recent Hollywood mind-numbing comedy than anything serious concerning anyone's health. Their focus was mainly on one thing and one thing alone - prescription drugs.
On November 25th Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said during a press conference, "This legislation is consequential for all Americans, it's far reaching for all Americans, it touches all of us in meaningful and truly remarkable ways. It allows " older people to access prescription drugs through the Medicare program for the first time in that wonderful program's history but a program that has been deficient in that it hasn't offered much in the way of preventative services and hasn't offered outpatient prescription drugs the most powerful tool in American medicine today at all. " it modernizes Medicare to 21st century standards " because it includes prescription drugs. Prescription drugs for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, and the list goes on."
On the same day in an AARP News Conference on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, Executive Director and CEO Bill Novelli stated, "Today is truly a historic day for the health of the American people. Medicare has finally been expanded to provide important prescription drug coverage and financial relief for millions of older and disabled Americans and their families. The National Council on Aging, The Alzheimer's Association, and the American Diabetes Association are all here with us this morning to congratulate members of Congress in both parties and both houses for keeping their promise to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. We've worked hard for many years to bring this about and it has been our top legislative priority."
There is just one small thing that seems to have eluded everyone supporting this monstrosity estimated to cost nearly $400 billion over the first 10 years - facts. Before embracing this prescription-is-health paradigm, it's important to step back and examine Mr. Frist's belief that prescription drugs are "the most powerful tool in American medicine today." We need to step back and examine the negative consequences of prescription drugs and see how to best improve the health of all Americans.
According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (Jan 22/29, 1997, Vol. 277, pp. 301-306) approximately 140,000 people die each year from what is tenderly termed an Adverse Drug Events or ADE. Also, roughly 770,000 hospitalized patients experience an ADE costing the United States health care system more than $136 billion a year.
Aside from that horrible toll let's take a single class of medication to treat a specific illness - for example NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to treat Arthritis. According to The American Journal of Medicine (July 27, 1998, p. 31S) approximately 16,500 people die each year out of the 107,000 that are hospitalized because of internal bleeding due to that class of medication.
Outside drug related harms according to the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) put out by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) about 90,000 people die each year in hospitals due to secondary acquired infection in large part because many of the medical staff are not washing their hands and practicing good hygiene. In nursing homes there is an epidemic of deaths from malnutrition and dehydration. According to a report by the National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, "35 to 85 percent of nursing home residents are malnourished" and "Elderly people who do not receive adequate fluids are more susceptible to urinary tract infections, pneumonia, decubitus ulcers, and confusion and disorientation. In addition, life-threatening electrolyte imbalances (i.e., hypernatremia and hyperkalemia) can occur. Mortality rates for untreated dehydration may be very high." Shockingly, in the United States as many as 100,000 or more people may be dying each year from malnutrition and dehydration in nursing homes.
In fact, a report by Gary Null PhD, that includes dozens of studies, concludes that iatrogenic (inadvertently induced medical treatment) deaths number at a staggering 780,000 or more annually. That makes iatrogenic deaths the number one killer in the United States followed by heart disease and cancer. None of this information was something Mr. Frist or Bill Novelli bothered to mention in either of their grandiose speeches.
And what about the true major factors that affect people's health? There are tens of thousands of studies showing nutrients and diet are the major factors in all health related conditions. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that 80 to 90% of study participants had at least one lifestyle risk factor in association with heart disease.
The truth is as a nation we need to stop eating processed junk food, stop smoking, and stop drinking alcohol. We need to start eating nutritious food with plenty of fruits and vegetables, taking more vitamins and herbs, exercise a great deal more, de-stress, and practice proper hygiene. We need to encourage the Republican dictum that appears completely absent in relation to health of "personal responsibility" in terms of each person's health.
Where is Congress supplying money for well nourishing food in nursing homes? How about tax rebates for joining health clubs? How about a national "clean hands save lives" campaign to bring down those staggering deaths from secondary infections? Couldn't Congress fund a program to supply seniors and others with juicers to provide them with healthy life sustaining nutrition? How about having juice bars, organic foods, meditation classes, yoga, vitamins, and many other things mandated to be supplied in nursing homes and hospitals? How about a mandated health program to air daily on the major networks to address all these important issues?
The results from these measures could only decrease the massive unnecessary deaths, and increase the longevity and quality of lives for literally hundreds of thousands. If Congress really cared about anything besides special interest groups and was serious about the health of Americans it would move forward to implement these and other positive solutions.
Unfortunately, we can expect very little from Congress which is primarily concerned with pandering to big business and secondarily with winning votes. Congress' mindless subservience to a simplistic paradigm of prescription drugs from big pharmaceutical companies to solve health problems is, unfortunately, to be expected. Drugs can certainly be lifesaving, but the massive negative effects have been completely ignored.
Drug companies and insurance companies will all do well under this legislative buffoonery. Seniors will continue to die by the tens of thousands and no doubt by tens of thousands more. No, this law doesn't reflect a Hollywood comedy - it's more like a Hollywood horror film for which we can all thank Congress. Roll credits.
Roman
Bystrianyk is an investigative reporter for HealthSentinel.com.
He can be reached at roman@healthsentinel.com
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